January 30, 2007

Say What Now?

Okay, I don't really care if Al "My Voice Is Freakishly Annoying" Franken makes a run for a Minnesota U.S. Senate seat or not. It's not high on my "give a shit" meter. And, honestly, I don't really care if he let fly with a non-funny joke about a dead gay man back in the 70s.

Not a pleasant tale, and one that Franken should respond to very carefully. He was who he was, and it's hardly surprising that a former prep wrestler and comedy writer of that era would say such things.

Screeeeeeeeeeech! Excuse me?! Please, do go on. . .

Amateur wrestlers, because of the enormously homoerotic nature of their sport, tend, in this country, to be incredible homophobes.

*blank stare* *shakes head, looks around* Did anybody else just read that? Homoerotic nature of the sport of wrestling? Is this guy for real? Let's see if he'll be so kind as to dig himself further into this prejudicial hole of his.

If there is one thing they refuse to associate wrestling with, it's gay sex.

Oh, not me! I danced and sashayed my way out on the mat for every match I ever wrestled. I'd give my opponents the once over, snap twice, and say "Helloooooooo, nurse!" Aside from getting taunted by BASKETBALL players that wrestling was just two guys rolling around with each other, the concept of gay sex didn't even remotely factor into my wrestling experience. It's not that we "refused" to associate wrestling with gay sex; it's that equating gay sex with wrestling just didn't compute.

Now, if you can watch that and think "gay sex," there's a very high probability you may, in fact, be gay yourself. Note: yes, some of the music is sort of gay. And I'll even allow that some of the celebrations at the end were. . . questionable.

[Note: I should have made it clear that I was speaking to MY experience with wrestling which covered the Dan Gable era from start to finish.

Uh, so what? The Dan Gable era? DAN GABLE! Possibly the greatest wrestler of the modern era? That was wrestling's gay era? Hey, buddy, that was the era of Disco! That whole decade was gay. Compared to disco outfits, wrestling singlets were practically trenchcoats.

I've since had some folks tell me that their experience was different.

Really?! Their wrestling experience wasn't choked with gay innuendo? Do tell! You mean wrestling hasn't been a hotbed of homophobia for the vast majority of wrestlers past, present and future?

And I certainly have no clue what prep wrestling has been like since Gable,

No, you have no clue. . . PERIOD. You're a clueless, quivering puddle of monkey spunk.

but Franken's wrestling career was decidedly during the early Gable era.]

Man, when this guy makes an excuse for someone else, he sure sinks himself deep in the muck and mire of his own rampaging prejudices.